The veteran Ron Roberts takes over the Arkansas defense after leading the Florida defense each of the last two seasons.
Roberts brings over 30 years of coaching experience, including head coaching experience at the high school level, Division II level at Delta State and the FCS level at Southeastern Louisiana. He has served as a defensive coordinator at the Power 4 level since 2020 when he led Baylor’s defense before taking over Auburn’s defense in 2023.
His first Florida defense in 2024 helped the Gators to a late-season rally to win the team’s final four games with wins over No. 21 LSU, No. Ole Miss, rival Florida State and Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl. The Gators’ defense finished the season ranked ninth nationally in the red zone (.725), 11th in sacks per game (3.0) and fumbles recovered (11) and 13th with 25 turnovers gained. Florida forced at least one takeaway in 12 of the team’s 13 games, including 10 consecutive games.
The Gator defense improved in nearly every statistical category from 2023 to 2024, including sacks (+17), tackles for loss (+28), forced fumbles (+11), pass breakups (+12), interceptions (+11) and turnovers gained (+18).
In his lone season at Auburn, the defense saw improvements and was among the best in the country and SEC in multiple categories.
Roberts guided Auburn to Top 50 finishes in scoring defense, sacks, tackles for loss and total defense. The Tigers also ranked in the Top 25 in third-down defense and first-downs allowed while ranking No. 1 in the SEC in red zone defense. In the conference, Auburn was second in third-down defense, third in pass defense and fourth in interceptions. According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), Roberts’ defense graded high in pass coverage (17th), total defense (18th), rushing defense (19th) and tackling (24th).
In his three years at Baylor (2020-22) as the defensive coordinator and inside linebackers’ coach, he helped the Bears capture the program’s third Big 12 Title in program history and first BCS/New Year’s Six bowl victory in the modern era.
In 2021, the defense was one of the nation’s top units as one of three defenses to limit every opponent to 30 points or less. Baylor led the conference in interceptions (19), turnovers gained (27), turnover margin (0.93) and defensive touchdowns (3). Additionally, the Bears were second in the Big 12 in run defense (118.4 ypg), scoring defense (18.3 PPG), pass efficiency defense (121.54) and sacks per game (3.14).
En route to the conference title, BU held Oklahoma to its lowest scoring (14) and yardage (260) marks in five years under Lincoln Riley. Baylor became the first Big 12 team to hold OU without a passing TD since Nov. 22, 2014, which snapped a 65-game streak for the Sooners.
Roberts’ defense also helped capture the 2022 Sugar Bowl while limiting Ole Miss to just seven points, an offense that averaged 28.9 points per game that season. The Bears had 10 sacks in the win to set a Sugar Bowl record as was Al Walcott’s 96-yard interception return for a touchdown.
In his first season in Waco in 2020, the defensive unit finished second in the conference in pass defense (203.0 ypg), interceptions (12) and third in turnovers forced (17).
Roberts began his coaching career in 1990 as the head coach at Houston HS in Tennessee. He took over as the head coach at Burroughs HS in his native California in 1994 before spending seven seasons combined at Greensboro (1997), Tusculum (1998-2002) and Texas State (2003) before returning to California and the high school ranks as the head coach at Mount Whitney HS in 2004. Roberts took over the defense at Delta State in 2005 leading the Fighting Okra’s defense for two seasons before being named the head coach in 2007. He made the jump to Southeastern Louisiana as the Lions’ head coach in 2012. He served as Billy Napier’s defensive coordinator at Louisiana for two seasons (2018-19) before leaving for Baylor.
Roberts played at UT Martin, where he was a linebacker. He and his wife, Didi, have three children – Reed, Reilly and Ryan.
The Roberts File
Birthdate: October 9, 1967
Hometown: Visalia, Calif.
High School: Golden West HS
College: UT Martin, 1990; Memphis, 1992
Family: Wife – Didi; Sons – Reed and Ryan; Daughter – Reilly
Coaching Experience
1990-93 Houston HS (Tenn.) – Defensive Coordinator
1994-96 Burroughs HS (Calif.) – Head Coach
1997 Greensboro – Assistant Coach
1998-2002 Tusculum – Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator
2003 Texas State – Defensive Coordinator
2004 Mount Whitney HS (Calif.) – Head Coach
2005-06 Delta State – Defensive Coordinator
2007-11 Delta State – Head Coach
2012-17 Southeastern Louisiana – Head Coach
2018-19 Louisiana – Defensive Coordinator
2020-22 Baylor – Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers
2023 Auburn – Defensive Coordinator
2024 Florida – Executive Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
2025 Florida – Executive Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator
Playing Experience
1988-89 UT Martin
